The Pompous Marauder
by deep in the high
Summary: Natalia Lyrae is in love, but her love isn't her fiance,Regulus Black, but his brother.FP Challenge fic.


_This is a story for the second FR Writing Challenge. Good luck to all other participants!

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The Pompous Marauder

A Happy Sadness

The castle's library was crammed with Hogwarts students trying to get last minute studying finished. Among the many students was a girl with curly brown hair and green eyes. Her height was the assurance everyone needed to make sure that she was the daughter of Helen Lyrae. Short and small built, the girl was all but noticeable among the herds of seventh years studying for NEWTs and the fifth years cramming for OWLs, or the other students trying to finish last minute homework assignments.

Unlike most of the students there, the girl was reading a letter, hidden behind one of the shelves in a far corner of the library, often overlooked by all but Lily Evans. She was surrounded by papers and books, but in her lap wasn't a scroll of hastily scribbled writing or a thick book of curriculum needed for exams that wouldn't take place until next year. In the place of homework or study materials was a small piece of parchment, the only reason for her state of distress. The letter was horrible, scratched out in her father's black inked writing, precise in all the curves and lines. She knew exactly what it detailed: her engagement to Regulus Black, a fellow sixth year Slytherin that played beater on the Quidditch team, the girl knew. She also knew that she had to live up to her family's expectations on marrying a pureblood and having pureblood children.

She hated stupid family expectations.

All her life, she knew that she would grow up, marry a Death Eater, and have more Death Eater children that would become Death Eaters and start the circle again. Throwing her head back, the girl sighed, her brown hair falling over her small shoulders. Her arm touched a small pendant resting on a book to her left. She flicked it, and it spun away, landing with the snake's face staring up blankly, the tongue that lashed out menacingly looking lost as it taunted the roof. She didn't want to wear it. It would only further her humiliation of publicly being Black's soon-to-be bride.

The girl sighed, crossing her legs as she closed her eyes gently, then snapping them open as a laugh sounded too close for comfort. She knew she was the laughing stock of Slytherin, just because of who her friends were, like Lily Evans, the Head Girl. Lily Evans had finally decided to give the marauder, James Potter, a chance. The Marauders were a group of boys, Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, that would play tricks on the entire school. Mostly on Severous Snape, though. And even though a Slytherin would turn against her in a heartbeat if they knew that the girl admired the Marauders, the girl didn't care. All she cared about was the stupid letter that had ruined her day, and her life. The stupid letter that she would not obey. The letter she could not obey.

The Slytherin sighed as she reached for the letter and scanned the words that she knew, hoping that they would change. But they didn't. All that happened was that a strange sadness, an emptiness of sorts, welled up in the girl's chest as she almost began to believe the words on the page, the precise words full of precise threats that could only hurt the daughter of Leonard and Helen Lyrae. Threats nobody but the girl could understand or decipher. The teenager pushed her hair behind her ears as five people entered the library. Five familiar faces. The Marauders, James holding Lily's hand. They were laughing, Sirius's handsome elegance radiating warmth and a casual laid-back attitude. Pettigrew, sweating as he nervously wrung his hands in front of him, his small, beady eyes darting back and forth nervously, and Remus, who had first met the girl through being her tutor. He was looking shabbier than ever, but was laughing with them nonetheless, his hair hanging limply in his pale eyes and face.

The unusual group sat down, Pettigrew at the end of the table, seemingly excluded. James wrapped an arm around Lily's waist as she joked with Sirius. "Don't steal my girl, Padfoot," James joked, and Sirius assured James that he wouldn't.

That was another thing she didn't understand. Those silly nicknames that the Marauders insisted on using, the names that nobody except for them understood. There were a good amount of rumours going around the castle, some ridiculous, like they're an animal transfigured into a human by a wizard, or a believable one, like they had an animal they were named after at their home. Either way, the girl didn't believe a single questionable statement. She didn't want to know what the gossiping Hufflepuff girls thought or heard. She cared only about fact, even if facts about the Marauders were hard to come by for most.

The enchanted snake hissed. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, be quiet," she demanded in a whisper, and the snake hissed again before falling silent at the command.

"My love," a voice drawled, and the teenager glared at the boy who appeared. "Natalia."

"You must have me confused with someone who loves you, Regulus," she responded coldly. "I certainly do not."

"Received your letter already, Love?" He asked, and Natalia counted to ten in her head, inwardly cursing every horrid word she knew at Black. "I knew you'd be upset at first, dear, but you'll see. We're meant for each other.

"Just like the Dark Lord and Hell are meant for each other?" She asked sweetly. "Then yes, we are perfect for each other." She noticed that he had the same handsome features that his brother in Gryffindor had, but his were much more subtle and unnoticed, unlike Sirius's obviousness about his good looks.

"Natalia, don't be rash." Regulus chided, a scowl on his features. "It's obvious we were meant to be. My Father, Orion Black," he said the name as if it were the name of a King, the only person below the Dark Lord himself, "believes that we look _very_ good together."

"Looks aren't everything, Regulus." Her voice spoke smoothly, a faint shiver in it as Regulus drew his wand like lightning. "And if they were," she mused, "your brother would obviously win. His eyes are much more handsome. And his hair is lovely, too." Her tone was level, unchanging as his knuckles turned white, gripped in a fist.

"The arrangements are made; we will marry next summer and you will have an heir to the Black heritage, Natalia." Regulus spoke tightly, his voice strained as he noticed the snake necklace on the floor. "Do you not wish to be claimed?" he snarled. He snatched it up and threw it at her. "Do you not wish to please your betters?"

"No. I wish to be free of this awful war." She spoke strongly. Regulus's eyes narrowed as he questioned as to why. "People are dying, on both sides. The Dark Lord cannot triumph when this generation has muggleborn children that are just as good as purebloods. Take Lily Evans, for example." Her green eyes glittered with defiance.

"Lily Evans does not have the status to belong to our community." He argued, his sharp eyes narrowing more. "She is a Mudblood, filth at most. _Toujour Pur._"

"_Toujour Pur_ indeed!" She argued, her voice rising. She was suddenly glad for the growing amount of noise. "Lily Evans is _much_ better than you at most things, _especially_ class. Not to mention she is more sociable." Natalia snapped.

"Natalia, don't insult purebloods. Lily Evans doesn't deserve to be here, or have magic, like we do. People like you and me are what's right in the world, and people like Lily Evans are a mistake." Regulus turned on his heel and left the room, his eyes narrowed in anger, a snarled shaped on his features.

Natalia didn't know what had gotten into her. Now that she had been so rude to Regulus, her parents would surely be informed of her true feelings, and it was all because of Sirius Black's brother. "Merlin…" she murmured, her eyes shut tight as her mind swirled with ideas of what her mother and father would do to her. If only Regulus wasn't such a jerk, then she would be safe, but Natalia knew that wasn't the case. If Regulus was nicer, then they would have never met, and she would be in the same situation, with another pureblood.

Natalia pulled her knees to her chest, the letter falling to the ground, forgotten. Resting her forehead on her knees, she let a tear drop roll down her porcelain like cheek before dripping onto the carpeted floor. For so long she had thought those mysterious gray eyes that haunted her were Regulus's, but now she knew that Regulus's were much sharper and colder, almost always assuming the appearance of a glare that could make you feel like you don't exist. For so long she felt she was making a mistake with her boyfriend, but now she knew for sure that it wasn't.

Because now the gray eyes in the back of her mind weren't on Regulus's face, or on a boy wearing green and silver. Now, her mind was free and happy, clear, not cloudy and only because she realized that the eyes were on the seventh year she had had her eyes on for so long, the seventh year she loved. The seventh year she knew loved her in return, just by the way he kissed her, and the way he held her hand and promised her he wouldn't hurt her, body, mind, or soul. The pompous seventh year Marauder.

Sirius Black.


End file.
